Caption: Saturn 5 rocket. First flight of the Saturn 5 rocket during the Apollo 4 mission on 9th November 1967. This unmanned mission was designed to test the viability of the enormous Saturn 5 rocket as a launch vehicle for the planned Moon landings. This Saturn 5 rocket was over 108 metres tall and weighed over 2.8 million kilograms. Much of this weight was the fuel, which was burnt at a prodigious rate to achieve the escape velocity of over 11 kilometres per second. This is the speed required to overcome Earth's gravity and reach orbit. The Apollo 4 mission ended just over 8.5 hours after launch with the successful recovery of the landing craft from the Pacific Ocean.